Journal of Business and Economics, ISSN 2155-7950, USA September 2016, Volume 7, No. 9, pp. 1509-1518 DOI: 10.15341/jbe(2155-7950)/09.07.2016/013 © Academic Star Publishing Company, 2016 http://www.academicstar.us The Development of Palembang Tourism Design by Utilizing MICE Excellence and Community Care in Tourist Attraction Regions Sri Rahayu, Ervita Safitri, Arniza Nilawati (University of Muhammadiyah Palembang, Malaysia) Abstract: Since the declaration of Palembang becoming a tourism destination in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) segment in 2011, various facilities and infrastructure necessary for the MICE activities have been constructed. A number of MICE events, such as SEA Games, the International Solidarity Games, Management Conference VII, have been held in Palembang and this year Palembang will hold ASEAN Students Sports Week. However, theseevents have not had a significant impact on the number of tourists visiting the tourist objects in Palembang; even in 2013 the number of tourists decreased by 18.45%. The room occupancy rate of star hotels in South Sumatra has increased 46.52%, but the average length of stay of foreign and domestic tourists instar hotels has decreased by 0.20 days. Likewise, the number of foreign tourists coming to South Sumatra has substantially decreased by 18.45%. Based on these situations, the researchers would like to provide a solution,to find a form of tourism which iscombined with the MICE tourism. Having found a form of collaborative tourism, there would be guidance to the people living in and near the tourist sites so that the people around the leading tourist attractionswould care and maintain the tourist objects and be able to describe them if requested by the tourists. To this end, the researchers would study the tourism management in the island of Bali and Yogyakarta. On the basis of our experience, the level of participation of the people in both places is very high and they are able to provide a detailed explanation to the tourists. The initial step of this study isbehaviour and objective mapping of the tourists coming to the city of Palembang with the purposes of MICE. The data were collected fromthe tourists staying at the hotels chosen by certain criteria. The results of the interviews with the tourists would show the tourist segmentation. The segmentation would determine the tourism design. Based on the tourism design produced, the researchers would invite the community around the tourist objects and provide them with the knowledge of tourism and excellent services. Next, there would be a national seminar to improve the tourism design produced. The final step of this study is to write the books on sustainable tourism management, leaflets, and booklets. Key words: MICE tourism; tourism design; excellent tourism JEL code: M 1. Background The development of MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Conferences and Exhibitions) tourism has been giving colour to the types of service industry that are identical to the provision of services. The MICE tourism also gives great Sri Rahayu, Dr., University of Muhammadiyah Palembang; research areas/interests: marketing. E-mail: [email protected]. 1509 The Development of Palembang Tourism Design by Utilizing MICE Excellence and Community Care in Tourist Attraction Regions benefits to tourism entrepreneurs. The development of MICE tourism as a new industry could be beneficial to many parties because MICE tourism is a complex industry. This is the reason forthe growth of MICE organizing entrepreneurs, so it is an undeniable fact that MICE tourism as today’s industry is much in demand by business people. Palembang is one of the citieshaving been designated as a MICE tourism city, besides 10 major cities designated as the MICE tourism cities, namely Jakarta, Bali, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Makassar, Surabaya, Medan, Manado, Semarang and Batam. Palembang to become a MICE tourist destination must have the support from all elements, such as government policies, readiness of means of transportation, stakeholders, tourism organizations, such as ASITA and IHRA, supporting infrastructure including, among others, hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, and tour guides. However, in practice MICE tourism in Palembang is not without a hitch. The difficulties are: (1) Lack of awareness of a tourist destination about the importance of MICE activities (2) Lack of MICE promotion (3) Absence of online and comprehensive MICE database (4) Difficult accessibility to the natural tourist attractions (5) Lack of routine arts and cultural performances (6) Limited representative souvenir shops (7) Relatively high price of good quality food (8) Lack of concern and language used by the people around the tourist objects Besides the above problems, on the basis of our observations in Palembang, there is no tourism design which is in harmony with the MICE activities. Based on this background, the researchers were interested in studying and designing tourism activities that can be applied to MICE. 2. Formulation of the Problems From the background above, the researchers formulated some problems as follows: (a) How to map the consumers’ behaviours in terms of demographic aspects and objectives of MICE participants coming to the city of Palembang? (b) How to design the tourismthat can support MICE activities based on demographicand tourist objective mapping? (c) What are the roles of tour guides in the tourism design? (d) How to keep the sustainable implementation of tourism designcombined with MICE activities? 3. Objectives of the Study The objectives of this study are: (a) To produce a mapping based on demographics and objectives of MICE participants coming to the city of Palembang, (b) To produce a tourism design that can support MICE activities based on demographic and tourist objectivemapping, (c) To describe the roles of tour guides in the tourism design, (d) To haveMOUs with relevantgovernment departmentsso that the tourism design could be sustainably 1510 The Development of Palembang Tourism Design by Utilizing MICE Excellence and Community Care in Tourist Attraction Regions implemented. 4. Literature Review 4.1 Concept of Tourism In abroad sense tourism is a recreational activity outside one’s domicile to break away from the routine or look for another atmosphere (Weber et al., 2006, p. 1). According to Wahab (2003, p. 3), tourism can be seen as something abstract, for example, as a phenomenon depicting the departure of people within their own country (domestic tourism) or crossing the bordersinto a country (international tourism). Therefore, tourism is composed of three elements, namely: human (the human element as the doers of tourism activities), place (the physical element actually covered by the activity itself), time (the tempo element spent in the journey itself and the dwelling at the destination) as well as the tourism industry that provides the services, attractions, and atmospheres. 4.2 Characteristics of Tourism Tourism is a combination of goods and services. Both are important, needed and produced by the tourism industry. Basically, tourism has unique characteristics (Ismayanti, 2010), namely: (a) A blend of transitory nature (intangible) and tangible nature (b) Inseparable nature (c) Volatility (d) Diversity (e) Fragile nature (perishable) (f) Seasonality (g) No ownership 4.3 MICE Tourism MICE tourism consists of four main activities, namely meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions. These four types of activities are an attempt to provide services for a meeting of a group of people (business people, scholars, government and private-sectorexecutives) to discuss various issues related to common interests as well as to showcase theirbusiness products (Deni, 2011). The deciding factors in choosing the MICE destinations, according to Ismayanti (2010, p. 169), are, among others: (1) Security (2) Prices (3) Ease of Access (4) Facilities (5) Infrastructure (6) Leisure Time Attractions (7) Discussion These seven factors were the indicators of the study, which would determine the tourist segmentation and the MICE tourist behaviour mapping. The results of this mapping would determine the design of comprehensive and integrated tour packages. The framework of this study can be seen in the following figure: 1511 The Development of Palembang Tourism Design by Utilizing MICE Excellence and Community Care in Tourist Attraction Regions Behaviors and Objectives Segmentation Figure 1 Research Framework 5. Research Methodology 5.1 Variable Operationalization The variables of this study were Tourism Product Design and MICE Tourism. The design of tourism products is the arrangement of tourist objects in the city of Palembang with the indicators of natural, historical, cultural, and culinary tourism. MICE tourism is a sector of the tourism industry whose activities are intended to unite the information providers and the recipients (tourists) with the indicators of security, prices, convenience, facilities, infrastructure, leisure time attractions, language. 1512 The Development of Palembang Tourism Design by Utilizing MICE Excellence and Community Care in Tourist Attraction Regions 5.2 Population and Sample The population of this study was all the hotel visitors in the city of Palembang with the purpose of participating in one of the MICE activities. Because the population was infinite, then the samples taken from the population were the visitors of the hotels presumably having more than 100 rooms and having already been in operation for at least